How to Create a Custom Font In Illustrator

Education

Introduction

Once upon a time, there was a designer passionate about designing letters. Despite his creative talent, he faced the challenge of turning his letter designs into real working fonts. Traditional software was often daunting, expensive, and complicated. However, everything changed when he discovered Fontself, an incredible add-on for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. This article, in partnership with Fontself, will show you how to easily transform your letter designs into actual working fonts.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Custom Fonts

Designing Letters in Illustrator

  1. Creating a New Document:

    • Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document with dimensions 1000x1000 pixels.

  2. Drawing Letters:

    • Use shapes like the rectangle or line tool to create letters. For smoother curves and lines, consider using the Pen tool.
    • Design each letter carefully, incorporating guidelines and snapping tools for precision.

  3. Vectorizing Hand-Drawn Letters:

    • If you prefer hand-drawn letters, scan them or draw them on a tablet, then place the image in Illustrator.
    • Use the Image Trace function to convert the image into vectors.
    • Expand the traced image to finalize the vectors and clean up any unwanted artifacts using the Magic Wand tool.

Using Fontself within Illustrator

  1. Installing Fontself:

    • Ensure you have Fontself installed in Illustrator. Access it via Window > Extensions > Fontself Maker.

  2. Creating Your Font:

    • Select and drag your letters into the Fontself panel. Fontself often recognizes the characters automatically, but you can manually input them if needed.
    • Use the Smart Spacing and Kerning button for automatic adjustments to your letter spacing and kerning.

  3. Saving and Using Your Font:

    • Once you're satisfied with your font, use the Install button to temporarily install the font in Illustrator.
    • To save the font as an OTF file, use the Save button.

  4. Fontself Catapult:

    • Use Fontself Catapult to preview your font online, share it, or download it as a web font.

Additional Tools and Features

  1. Advanced Options:

    • Utilize advanced spacing and kerning options to fine-tune your font.
    • Explore various preview modes and background options to see how your font looks in different contexts.

  2. Font Info and Attribution:

    • Customize font details such as naming, style, copyright, and manufacturing information from the Font Info section.

Conclusion

Fontself makes the process from designing individual letters to creating usable fonts incredibly straightforward. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced designer, using Fontself with Illustrator can save you countless hours and turn your creative letter designs into functional fonts.

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FAQs

Q: What is Fontself? A: Fontself is an add-on for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator that helps create custom fonts easily.

Q: Can I use hand-drawn letters to create a font? A: Yes, you can scan or photograph hand-drawn letters, place them in Illustrator, and use Image Trace to convert them into vector graphics.

Q: How does Fontself handle spacing and kerning? A: Fontself offers a Smart Spacing and Kerning feature that automatically adjusts the spacing and kerning for you.

Q: How do I preview and share my font online? A: You can use the Fontself Catapult feature to preview, share, and download your font for online use.